[In the following essay, originally published in 1958, Wilkes discusses the unique characteristics that defined Australian literature of the 1890s while commenting on major writers and works of the period.]

The first duty of anyone discussing Australian literature in the nineties is, I imagine, to demonstrate the existence of his subject. In Australia's literary development, is there a period ‘the nineties’ with distinctive characteristics that can be intelligently discussed, and if so, may the writing...

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John Barnes (essay date 1969)

SOURCE: Barnes, John. “Discovering Australia: Commentary.” In The Writer in Australia: A Collection of Literary Documents 1856 to 1964, edited by John Barnes, pp. 65-70. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1969.

[In the following excerpt, Barnes remarks on the influence of A. G. Stephens as editor of the Bulletin's literary Red Page in the 1890s.]

To move from Desmond Byrne to A. G. Stephens writing in the same year—1896—is to alter sharply the perspective in which Australian writing is viewed. Stephens writes from within a new movement, hopeful of its future, and confident in his assessment of its importance … / [was] Stephens—the first significant...

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[In the following excerpt, Kiernan examines Australian literary criticism of the 1890s, focusing on A. G. Stephens as “the critical patron of Australian literature” and his twentieth-century successor, Vance Palmer.]

Generally [Australian] critics were in basic agreement on their assumptions about the relationship between literature and society. They differed mainly in their opinions on the way in which the future ‘national literature’ could be best encouraged—by a disinterested appeal to the highest standards or by an encouraging response to the gallant efforts of...

[In the following excerpt, Cantrell highlights the uniqueness of 1890s Australian literature and the significant developments in Australian literary history that occurred during this decade.]

The decade of the 1890s has meant many different things as Australians have tried to come to terms with their past. Perhaps there is always an aura of nostalgia and sentiment hanging over a period which seems to mark a watershed between an old way of life and a new. And when that period marks the closing years of a...

Chris Wallace-Crabbe (essay date 1982)

SOURCE: Wallace-Crabbe, Chris. “The Legend of the Legend of the Nineties.” In Review of National Literatures: Australia, edited by L. A. C. Dobrez, pp. 64-84. New York: Griffin House Publications, 1982.

[In the following essay, Wallace-Crabbe summarizes the literary period of 1888 to 1903 in Australia, commenting on the significance of the Bulletin and the writings of Henry Lawson, Joseph Furphy, and Christopher Brennan.]

In democratic communities each citizen is habitually engaged in the contemplation of a very puny object, namely, himself. If he ever raises his looks higher, he then perceives nothing but the immense form of society at...